BY JAY BAUTISTA | We are familiar with the power of music to revert us to when we first heard it. What is vividly striking is how enticing its rhythm could make you look back to who you were with, where you were, and even what were you feeling when it was initially played.  Award winning artist Ricky Ambagan’s recent exhibition, From Here, at the Salcedo Private View attempts to characterize what music is--only visually with his distinct iconography in subdued colors and fine brushstrokes. Continuing his artistic foray that Ambagan started with his earlier I’m Coming Home exhibition, Amb ..read more

BY JAY BAUTISTA | “His figures are un-anatomical, his work more evocative than literal. Aside from these we think De Guzman is recording some metaphysical insights by means of his personal mythology," written by then Cultural Center of the Philippines Director Raymundo Albano on Gomburza Martyrs (1971) by Jaime De Guzman (b.1942) which prominently hangs on the second floor of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Main Building.   It was in Pasinaya, the CCP Open Arts Festival in 2015 that Billy Bagtas first caught attention to this visual masterpiece which was De Guzman’s artistic ode t ..read more

BY JAY BAUTISTA | At a young age, Marco Banares stared at life straight in the eye and grabbed its head by the horns. Losing his father at five years old, Banares and his brother were left under the guidance of their grandparents growing up. They eventually became orphans when they lost their mother to asthma causing her failure to breathe before she was even brought to the hospital. Banares had to endure his already topsy-turvy life by working on the side--taking odd creative jobs--while still studying to survive in dignity. Adversity made Banares appreciate the ordinary and be creative in ..read more

BY JAY BAUTISTA | Born with lower limb deformity, Anthony Victoria has always relied on his aluminum cane to function properly. As an extension of his body, he would reach out to it immediately upon waking up and sleep beside it upon retiring at night.   Shooting Targets Like a trusted best friend, his aluminum cane was a constant witness to the vicissitudes of surviving his daily existence. They both hurdled and even endured every ordeal together. Victoria even nervously confessed it is hardest when it rained because the floor will be so wet and slippery making the rubber on hi ..read more

BY JAY BAUTISTA | In Molo, Iloilo most of the youth do not sleep soundly these days. Their constant exchange of bric-a-brac violence among gangs have heightened tension and caused anxiety among its members. Evident of which is how they sleep with knives tucked in their pillows to protect them--in case the inevitable happens. Though Jason Delgado is not directly involved yet they are all his friends, as he has been witness to this grim forced habit. As an artist he is sensitive enough to paint what bothers him. It was for a group exhibition in 2017 at the Museo ng Iloilo that he showed his fir ..read more

BY JAY BAUTISTA | Art is but a preparation for that bigger art—the art of Living. Ananda Coomaraswamy Indian Curator   For Kim Hamilton Sulit creating art has been an effective way to cope up with his insecurities, anxieties, and struggles in life in a decade of art practice. His creative becoming has made him survive afloat—barely grasping for breath--despite harsh realizations of espousing the contemporary as an artist based in the cultural town of Angono. How his past solo and group exhibitions have displayed his authenticity to the way his life phases have evolved both in his person ..read more

BY JAY BAUTISTA | Master visual artist Toti Cerda and watercolorist Erwin Mallari were both born, bred and continue to dwell in their respective hometowns near the proximity to the metropolitan center. As significant contemporary artists they have bear witnessed to the radical change of progress in these dwellings evolving from once being idyllic and pristine locations to the ever bustling these localities are today. Cerda, who was born in Talim Island near Binangonan, saw how in the last 30 years the lakeshore towns of Rizal have evolved the fishing enclaves and farming villag ..read more

BY JAY BAUTISTA | In keeping up with his bespoke visual style of juxtaposing the historical with contemporary iconographies, Otto Neri becomes more personal for this exhibition Jukebox, as he merges two of his prime obsessions--Philippine art history and popular music. Hey Jude, Come Together Being both a self-taught painter and musician for more than half of his creative life, Neri happily grew up in a realist neighborhood of Caloocan where he was honed as the willing apprentice by senior Mabini artists. With paint brushes in tow, priming their every canvas at any particular d ..read more

BY JAY BAUTISTA | Dave Alcon was obviously mesmerized while listening to Upuan by Gloc 9 when as if by instinct--piece by piece--he illustrated chairs on top of one another in a voluminous effort to create an artistic statement. Sign of the times as the contest theme stated--this painting was his entry to a prestigious national painting competition back in January 2019. With the national and local elections upcoming in May, uncertainty was prevalent in the air yet Alcon was too certain of what he was creatively preoccupied with, unmindful of the repercussions of leaving his former j ..read more

BY JAY BAUTISTA | Sakiyo Oftentimes to espouse the contemporary, artists painstakingly create alternative realities of their own making. From organic cast of subjects, to ethereal settings, even backing them up with personal myths and mythologies as main conniving narratives. In his second solo exhibition AMPO (Hiligaynon for prayer) Michael Delmo contemplates further his artistic direction on this ongoing pandemic and pursues his faith in an inner spiritual vision wrought by whimsical creatures in eerie landscapes. Tanghaga For Delmo, art-making is a form of an in-depth r ..read more